ScoobyDoo and the Mysterious Murder of Mr Marks
by ElisabethCarter
Summary: A murder happens in Coolsville. Can the gang figure out who the killer is or will a ghost get to them first? Meant to be a part of my series, so if you haven't read those, this may not make a lot of sense. Please review!
1. Murder Mentioned in the Malt Shop

If you, my dear readers, have any suggestions for me, please don't be afraid to tell me about them! Review! Also, I'm sorry that all of my stories have been with ghosts haunting places so far, but I promise I'll add a little more variety after this one.  
Note: I don't own the Scooby-Doo characters or anything like that.

_Chapter 1 Mystery Mentioned in the Malt Shop_

Fred Jones, a handsome blonde teenager, walked into the Malt Shop, a local hangout where Mystery, Inc. could be found nearly every Friday afternoon. Upon looking around, he noticed that his friends were already sitting at their usual booth, waiting for him. Velma Dinkley, the most intelligent member of the group and the mastermind who usually solved all of their mysteries, was reading a newspaper and frowning. Next to her, Shaggy Rogers and their dog, Scooby-Doo, were eating, no, _inhaling _giant ice cream sundaes, each topped with a pickle rather than a cherry. Seated beside them was the red-head that made Fred's heart flutter excitedly. Daphne Blake was looking into a small mirror and fixing her already perfect hair. She seemed to sense Fred's presence and looked up, smiling sweetly to form most perfect expression he had ever seen.

"Hey, guys," Fred said, slightly breathless. He slid into the booth next to Daphne, trying not to seem too eager to be near her, and looked around at his friends once more. "What's wrong, Velma?" he asked, noticing the brunette's slightly disgruntled expression.

"You all know who Jeffery Marks is, right?" she asked, receiving a nod from everyone at the table but Shaggy. "He's the really rich old man who lived in that mansion on top of the hill," she explained to the boy next to her, who was looking more interested in getting another ice cream than listening to her talk. "Well, he died this morning," Velma told the rest of the gang, causing them to gasp, for they had not been expecting such sad news about the man. She gestured to the small article about it in _The Coolsville Times_ that seemed to be what was bothering her_._ "It says here that the police are telling everyone that it was from natural causes but some people are starting to suspect that it was homicide."

Scooby looked at her dumbly. "R'homicide?" he asked.

"It means murder," Fred told the dog.

Scooby gulped loudly but said no more as Velma explained that she had known Mr. Marks and had met with him only a few days earlier. "He was perfectly healthy, nothing wrong with him at all. Something about this whole thing just doesn't add up," she said slowly, her mind analyzing and processing as it so often did when a mystery was involved. "He wasn't even that old."

"Well, why don't we head up to Mr. Marks' house and see what we can find out?" Fred suggested, smiling kindly.

"Like, can it wait until tomorrow?" Shaggy whined. "It's going to get dark out soon." He gestured to a nearby window, though the sky was still a clear blue for it was only four o'clock in the afternoon.

Velma rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a chicken," she said, chuckling at Shaggy's reaction.

He narrowed his eyes and scoffed in what was meant to be an offended expression, though it looked rather hysterical. "I am _not_ a chicken," he snapped, raising his chin and crossing his arms across his chest.

"Bok, bok, bok," Scooby said, flapping his paws like wings in attempt to mimick the animal.

Shaggy stuck his tongue out at the dog, who just laughed. "I just happen to know that, like, whenever we go somewhere in the dark, Daphne gets kidnapped or something like that and then we have to run around trying to find her while some creepy ghost chases us."

"Hey!" Daphne shouted, glaring at Shaggy and promptly punching him in the arm.

Fred started to chuckle a little at this, for Shaggy's statement had been completely true. This earned Fred a punch in the arm as well. "Daph," he said, rubbing his arm. "It's not our fault that your _super_ danger-prone!"

"Come on," Velma pleaded with the arguing group. "Please just do this one favor for me and I promise I'll never ask for anything from you guys ever again."

Daphne sighed and agreed to go to Marks' house if everyone would quit teasing her about the many times she had managed to get herself captured whenever they went somewhere. "It's not going to happen today," she told her friends confidently. "I mean, there's not even anything haunting the place, so there's nothing there that could kidnap me."

Velma now turned her attention to Shaggy, putting on her most convincing "puppy-dog face." She looked at him with those big brown eyes that he couldn't refuse. "Please, Shaggy," she said softly. "For me?"

"Fine," the coward muttered grudgingly. "But, like, first, we're getting something to eat."

"Reah, reah, reah," Scooby said eagerly, licking his lips. He took a napkin and tucked it in to his collar, also grabbing a knife and fork.

"But didn't you guys just have that huge bowl of ice cream?" Fred asked, gesturing to the empty dishes in front of them.

"Well, yeah, but that was just, like, an appetizer to tide us over while we were waiting for you to show up," Shaggy responded as if it were the most natural thing in the world to have ice cream sundaes before the main course.

The rest of the gang laughed at their never-ending hunger but agreed to buy the boys hamburgers, shakes and french fries before they left.


	2. A New Haunt is Introduced

Note: If any of you gave ever seen the show Psych then you will probably recognize that O'Connor is like Lassiter and James is like Shawn. That's pretty much what I based that whole scene on.

_Chapter 2 A New Haunt is Introduced_

Mystery, Inc. arrived at Mr. Marks' mansion a short time later. What they saw before them included flashing sirens, an infestation of officers, and yellow tape, discouraging any trespassers. The gang walked up to Detective William O'Connor, an uptight man who was obviously in charge. "What are you kids doing here?" the man barked. "This is a closed crime scene."

Shaggy frowned. "Like, somebody's in a bad mood," he muttered to Fred. Unfortunately, Shaggy wasn't as quiet as he'd hoped and O'Connor heard.

The man's dark eyes narrowed. "Of course I'm in a bad mood!" he shouted. "The medical examiner was supposed to be here by ten o'clock at the latest, but no one's heard from him. That means we're stuck here, unable to touch or move the body, with nothing to do."

Fred squirmed slightly in front of the scary detective. "You could look for clues or something," he said in a small voice.

"What do you think we did the second we got here?" O'Connor snapped. "Fom what we can see there are no clues to be found because his death was from natural-"

"Muuurder!" shouted a younger man, cutting off O'Connor. He wasn't dressed like a detective, though he seemed as though he were used to being at crime scenes.

"James," the detective growled. "Leave now."

James smiled. "I can't do that, Billy. The chief hired me for this one." He then turned to face the group of teenagers before him. "I'm Henry James, psychic for the Coolsville police department."

Most of Mystery, Inc. remained silent, terrified by the murderous look on O'Connor's face. Daphne was the first to regain her voice. "Nice to meet you, Mr. James," she said politely, holding out her hand.

"Call me Henry," the psychic responded, shaking her hand.

"This is Fred, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby," Daphne continued, gesturing to each person in turn. "We're members of a group called Mystery, Inc."

"Oh yeah," Henry said. "I've read about you guys in the paper." By now, O'Connor had grown bored with the conversation. "Okay, I know you kids think that old man Marks was murdered."

Fred looked shocked. "But how did you-?"

Henry rolled his eyes. "Psychic, remember? Anyway, I don't think these cops are going to do anything at all. They're determined to believe that nothing like this could ever happen in Coolsville. That's where you guys come in."

Confused, Daphne asked, "But I don't understand. What can we do?"

"If I can get you in the house, do you think you'll be able to find something that'll make the police investigate this?"

Fred smiled confidently. "If course we can. It's what we do."

A few minutes later, the gang found themselves face to face with Mr. Marks. Seeing the body was more frightening than the imagined. Shaggy and Scooby had to leave and wait in the kitchen while Daphne clung to Fred's arm, feeling unwell. They looked around but found nothing out of the ordinary until Velma shouted, "Jinkies!" Shaggy and Scooby slowly came into the living room, where the body was lying on the floor. They made their way over to Velma, noticing that she was holding a half-eaten doughnut in her hand. S

cooby's face lit up as he tried to eat it, though something caused the dog to turn away in disgust.

"Like, what is it, Scoob?" Shaggy asked as he observed his pet's strange behavior. Scooby never turned down a free doughnut, never.

"Ruck! R'its rucky!" he replied, making a face and plugging his nose with his paw.

"That's what I was trying to tell you all," Velma said, dropping the dessert into a plastic bag. "This doughnut has been covered in some kind of poison."

"But how did the police miss that?" Daphne asked.

"They must not have looked hard enough," Velma replied. "I found it under here," she said, pointing to a cabinet near Mr. Marks deceased form."

"We have to show this to Detective O'Connor," Daphne told the others with a smile. "This should be all the proof he needs to start a real investigation." She looked around at her friends who were all acting a bit nervous. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Like, that guy gave me the creeps," Shaggy said. "I'm not going to talk to him again if I can help it." Velma agreed with the coward for once and Fred remained silent, trying not to appear weak in front of Daphne.

The red-head gave an exhasperated sigh. "I can't believe you're all freaked out just because O'Connor was a little intimidating." She smiled, enjoying the feeling of being the only brave one in the group. "Fine, I'll go show him what we've found." Daphne spun around and skipped away, leaving the others to stand over the body awkwardly.

Fred, who was blushing heavily, was tapped on the shoulder. He turned around to find himself looking at a well-built man of about twenty-three. "What are you kids doing here?" the man said, sounding rather unfriendly.

"We, err," Fred stuttered, not sure how to answer that question without getting kicked out.

"We were friends of Mr. Marks," Velma said calmly.

"Oh," their companion replied. "I'm Stephen, his son." For a man who had just lost his father, Stephen seemed remarkably undisturbed. He looked down at the dead body before him, still showing no emotion whatsoever other than annoyance that these kids were intruding.

"We're very sorry for your loss," Velma said, sounding more accusing than sorry.

Stephen gave her an odd look before Fred apologized, saying they had to be leaving. The group made their way to the front yard where they found Daphne and Henry engaged in some sort of argument with O'Connor.

"This is proof," Daphne shouted at the detective, shaking the plastc bag containing the doughnut. Fred smiled, impressed by her fiery attitude.

"For all I know, you could have brought it," O'Connor countered.

"Oh, so now I'm a suspect?" Daphne yelled angrily. "What do we need to get to prove to you that someone, not us, killed Mr. Marks?"

"A confession," he replied simply.

Daphne opened her mouth to argue but was immediately cut off by an eerie voice that seemed to come from every direction. "I murdered that man," it said. "This is _my_ house and he trespassed, just as you are all doing at this moment. Leave now or you'll suffer the same fate." The doors and windows of the great house slammed shut simultaneously. After that, there wasn't another sound as an agonizing silence fell over the whole hill and everyone looked around, scared and confused.

Suddenly the sirens on every police car went off, shattering the quiet and causing Daphne to cling onto Fred and Scooby to jump into Shaggy's arms.

Detective O'Connor had his gun drawn and was searching for what had caused this commotion.

Henry leaned over and spoke in an self-assured voice. "That sure sounded like a confession to me."


	3. The Two Suspects

Hey, everyone! I'm sorry that this story isn't that great. I'm so sleep-deprived I can hardly think but every time I shut my eyes I have these totally bizarre nightmares that make me feel more tired than I was before. So what am I doing when I can't force myself to fall asleep? Writing this story! Okay, now I know you didn't decide to read this so I could tell you about my lack of sleep and coherency so on with the story!

_Chapter 3 The Two Suspects_

"Freddy," Daphne said quietly. "What was that creepy voice?"

"I don't know," he replied, "but we're going to find out."

"No, you're not," O'Connor snapped. "If this...ghost, or whatever the hell that was, wants us to leave, then that's exactly what we're going to do." He turned and shouted to his men, "Come on, boys, we're getting out of here before we end up like Marks."

"What about the body?" someone asked.

O'Connor thought for a moment. "We'll take it with us."

Henry, who had managed to break into the house, now came out, looking flustered. "That's going to be kind of difficult considering Marks is gone," he said to O'Connor.

"James, I don't have time for your stupid little practical jokes right now," spat the detective, looking as if he were considering shooting the psychic right there.

"Billy, this is no joke. There's no body."

"Someone must've stolen it," Fred thought aloud, causing the full attention of the two men to be focused on him.

"You kids were the last ones with Marks' body," O'Connor stated, glaring at them suspiciously. "You could have been the ones that stole it!" He looked around and spotted a new-looking officer. "McGee," he shouted to the man. "Search that van!" he commanded, pointing at the Mystery Machine.

"Hey!" Fred yelled. "We didn't do anything. You can't just search through our stuff."

O'Connor took a few steps toward the now-frightened blonde boy. "Oh, yeah," he said in a low hiss. "Well if you didn't do it, then who did?"

Daphne stepped up, pushing Fred aside. "Give us some time and we'll figure out."

The detective chuckled bitterly. "You think you kids can solve this case without the help of the police?"

"I think they can," Henry piped up. "I mean, look at all the cases I've solved without your help." He smiled kindly, making O'Connor furious enough to stomp away. Henry then directed his attention to the group of teenagers before him. "Alright, guys, do you honestly think you'll be able to figure out what happened? I can't do much as long as O'Connor is too scared to keep investigating here, but maybe you'll be able to dig up something," he told them. "Here's a key to the house." He handed them a small, worn key. "That'll give you access to everything and since the police are basically abandoning this place, no one should disturb you while you work. Good luck!"

Henry trotted off so quickly that the gang didn't have time to protest. After all, they were just kids. What could they do that the police couldn't? But then Shaggy said something that was so motivational and inspirational that no one would have ever guessed that it was truly coming from the mouth of this hungry coward.

"Isn't this what we signed up for?" he asked. "We wanted to solve mysteries and, like, help people out. Well, this is a mystery and we'd be helping the police. I know this may seem like a lot to handle, but we're, like, Mystery, Inc. We catch bad guys and get in loads of trouble. That's what we do, and it's tough and scary, but we do it well. We, like, shouldn't stop now. I say we go inside that totally creepy old mansion with a dead guy hiding in it and solve us a mystery!"

A few hours later the group slowly and quietly stepped out of the Mystery Machine where they had been hiding, waiting for the last few police officers to leave the scene. Fred took the key that Henry had given them out of his pocket and inserted it in the lock. Seconds later Mystery, Inc. found themselves inside Mr. Marks' home, trying to figure out what the heck had been going on.

"What do we know so far?" Fred asked nervously, for he was overcome with the feeling that someone was watching them.

"Well, we know that Marks was murdered, using the doughnut that Velma found to disguise the poison," Daphne said.

"And that there's some seriously creepy mumbo jumbo going on in this place," Shaggy commented.

"Reah, reepy r'voice." Scooby shivered at the mere memory of the creepy voice.

"And we know that whoever was trying to scare us all away was also the one that stole Marks' body," Velma added, staring off into the distance as if she were remembering something. "Oh, I almost forgot, we know that Stephen Marks was here!"

"Yeah, and he didn't seem to upset about his father dying," Fred said suspiciously.

Velma smiled. They had their first suspect. "Stephen and Mr. Marks were estranged. They had been for years," she informed her friends. "The last time I say Mr. Marks he told me all about it. Also, there was something going on with his will. I think he was changing it so that, after his death, Stephen would no longer be the sole benificiary."

"That gives Stephen motive," Fred mused.

"Hey!" an unfriendly voice barked. "What do you think you're doing here?"

The gang turned around to see a man in his fifties, wearing a worn cap and overalls covered in mud. He was holding a shovel and there was fresh dirt coating his shoes.

"We were just trying to figure out what was happening here," Velma explained. She now remembered seeing this man lurking around in the shadows as the police were investigating earlier.

"Well that's none of your business," the man replied, indicating that he would like them to leave. "I'm Jeff Parker, the caretaker of this place. Mr. Marks was my boss and he didn't like intruders so I would appreciate it if you all would be on your way now." He gestured to the exit.

"Before we go," Daphne said as the others began walking toward the door, "would you mind telling us what you know about Mr. Marks' will?"

Parker sighed. "There was a lot of tension between Marks and his son over that stupid piece of paper. Marks was my best friend. That's why he hired me to work here: I really needed the money to pay off some old debts. After a few months he told me that he had planned to leave his estate and money to me, thus cutting Stephen out of it entirely. It wasn't like the two of them really got along well to begin with, but after he heard about that, Marks' son kept coming over here, demanding that his father change the will. Marks told him to leave and never come back." He looked back at each of the kids. "Now, that's the end of that story, so you should all be on your way."

"Err, right," Fred said. Everyone was leaving, except for Daphne who was standing there, looking suspiciously at Parker. Fred quickly wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her outside, his heart beating furiously either from being so close to her or from the creepy, sinister look that had been on Parker's face the whole time. As soon as everyone was safely back in the van, Fred told them all what he had been thinking. "Did you guys hear all of that?" he asked. "If Parker really was the one who would get everything after Marks died, that gives him clear motive to kill him."

"Plus," Velma added, "he did say that he had 'old debts' that needed to be paid off. Sounds pretty shady to me."

Everyone seemed pleased that they basically had this case solved when Daphne moaned. "This doesn't help," she said sadly.

"What do you mean?" Fred asked curiously. "Isn't having a suspect a good thing?"

"Well, it would be if there were just one suspect," she replied. "But we have two: Stephen Marks _and_ Jeff Parker. Both of them could _easily_ be the murderer."

"So that leaves one question," Velma said.

Fred sighed. "Yeah, which one of them really did it?"


	4. Sighting of the Spirit

_Chapter 4 Sighting of the Spirit_

The gang decided that the only way to solve this mystery was to go back to the scene of the crime and investigate. They waited until Parker went out to the store. After that, Mystery, Inc. had about an hour to dig up whatever they could before the caretaker would surely return.

"Like, what do we do now?" Shaggy asked as they stood in the living room. "What if Parker comes back too soon?"

Fred sighed. "We'll split up. You and Scooby can keep watch outside while Velma looks around to see if there's anything out there that's useful. Daph and I will snoop around in here and see if we can find anything."

"Like, roger that," Shaggy said, saluting and skipping merrily to wait on the porch. He was rather pleased that his only duty for the day was to keep watch, for whenever he did anything else, bad things would happen. He and Scooby plopped down in rocking chairs that were placed by the door.

Velma, who had spotted a patch of freshly dug dirt, went over to see what someone had buried.

Meanwhile, Daphne and Fred were looking around, trying to find anything that seemed out of place. As she was walking toward a large cabinet, Daphne tripped, causing her to fal flat on her face. She blushed as she quickly jumped up and brushed herself off. Embarrased, she didn't even try to see what had caused to fall. Fred, however, was staring at the place where she had tripped. He bent over next to a floorboard that seemed to be sticking up farther than the others.

"Hey, Daph, come check this out," he said, indicating his find. "It kind of looks like someone loosened this board so they could hide something."

Daphne walked over and helped Fred lift the board, praying the whole time that it wasn't concealing Marks' body. Thankfully, there was only a small shoe box that was hidden under the plank. Fred gingerly lifted it out and took off the lid. What he found inside was something that seemed to be the reason for everything that had happened in the past few days.

It was Marks' will.

"Oh my God, Daph," Fred said to her. "We just found his missing will!" He smiled and hugged her without thinking. "This is great. I mean, couldn't this really help us out?"

Daphne held it in her hand. "Yeah, this could be the key to solving this mystery. Can you believe that this whole thing started over these few pieces of paper?"

"It does seem kind of stupid now that I think about it." Fred grinned happily as he noticed that Daphne was fiddling with her necklace - the one he'd given her - while she thought about their new find.

Just then, Fred got the feeling that he was being watched. He sensed a presence behind him and turned, finding himself face to face with a creepy figure. It was wrapped up in a ghostly white sheet that looked different than any Halloween costume he had seem little kids wear. This specter, much like the one the gang faced on their first case, had some sort of white mask over his face. While the pair of teenagers stood before him in shock, the spirit reached for the will, but Daphne refused to let go, so she was roughly fought. Fred tried to help her, but the creep simply swung back his arm and hit Fred in the stomach, sending him flying into a cabinet. The ghost grabbed on to Daphne's wrists and spun her around, causing Daphne's head to smash into a nearby door frame.

The eerie figure was running away and Fred began to chase it, but he noticed the vulnerable red-head lying unconcious on the floor. He knew he couldn't just leave her there, so he allowed the phantom to flee and bent down, gently stroking Daphne's hair. He could already feel a bump forming from where she had been struck.

"Daphne," he said softly, trying to wake her. After several tries, her eyes finally fluttered open.

"Fred," she said. "What-what happened?" She tried to sit up but was stopped by a throbbing pain. "Ow."

"That ghost-thing attacked you," he said, feeling stupid for not defending her when he had the chance. He could've stopped this all if he had just been able to get up after the ghost hit him. As far as Fred was concerned, this was all his fault. "Here, I'll take you out to the van. I think we're done for the day." He gently lifted Daphne up, bringing her close to his chest.

Daphne could tell that Fred was upset about something, but her head hurt so bad that she didn't know how much comfort she could provide.

As soon as they stepped outside, Fred knew something was wrong. Shaggy and Scooby were gone from their posts and Velma was nowhere to be found. He made his way over to the car, needing to put Daphne down before he could do anything else. Surprisingly, as soon as he opened the door, he found that the rest of the gang was already in the vehicle.

"What are you guys doing in here?" he asked curiously.

"L-l-l-like, the ghost was chasing us," Shaggy managed to spit out.

"Reah," Scooby said, imitating the intimidating figure.

"What happened to her?" Velma asked, pointing at Daphne, who was now asleep in the passenger's seat.

"The ghost," Fred replied simply. His voice had no emotion in it, something that was a clear indicator that he was still beating himself up over what happened in the house. The one real breakthrough they had was now in the hands of some specter, Daphne was hurt, and it was all his fault. "We found the will but that freak took it before we got a chance to look at it."

He pulled out and prepared to leave the house.

"Jinkies!" Velma said. "Look, that's Parker's car. When did he get back?" No one got a chance to answer, for their attention was soon directed to a familiar figure creeping around the side of the house.

It was Stephen Marks.

"Like, what's that guy doing here?" Shaggy asked.

Everyone else in the van was wondering the same thing and Stephen Marks began to look more and more guilty.


	5. No One to Blame

_Chapter 5 No One to Blame_

Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby were huddled up in their clubhouse. It was an old building in Shaggy's backyard that used to be a small barn, but recently they had taken over, making it their headquarters. It was about ten o'clock at night and the gang was discussing the case. All of them seemed to suspect that Stephen Marks was the one responsible for everything, though in the back of Fred's mind something was bothering him about jumping to that conclusion.

Daphne was spread out on a couch, holding an ice pack to her head. Fred was sitting beside her, allowing her feet to rest on his lap. Velma was hunched over a computer nearby, typing up some sort of list while Shaggy and Scooby were quickly devouring every ounce of food that they could find.

"So, like, what's the plan, Fred?" Shaggy asked.

"We'll go back to the house tomorrow while Parker is out," he replied. "Then, we'll set a trap for Stephen and, if all goes well, we can be out of there by dinnertime."

An hour later, the trap was though out and planned, leaving the whole team anxious for the next day to come. They wanted this mystery to be over as soon as possible.

Shaggy yawned. "Guys, I think it's time to hit the sack." He looked around to see that Scooby was already curled up and asleep. Velma had passed out on her laptop's keyboard while Fred and Daphne were sleeping on the couch. Shaggy sighed. "Great, so now I'm the only one awake. Everyone knows that, in horror movies, the last person to fall asleep is always the one that hears the creepy noises and ends up dying first," he said to himself bitterly.

That night, however, Shaggy remained unharmed and he awoke the next morning to the sound of his friends getting ready for the day when they would capture the ghost of Marks' mansion.

When they arrived at the house, it seemed evident that their plan would have to change, for they saw Stephen Marks creeping around the grounds once again, but this time, there was someone else present as well: the phantom. It reached out from the shadows and snatched Stephen. Fred sprinted after the ghost but couldn't find where it went.

"There goes our number one suspect," he muttered to the rest of the gang.

"What are you kids doing back here?" a voice shouted to them. They turned to see that Jeff Parker, their new main suspect, was walking toward them. "I thought I told you to get away."

Before anyone could respond, the doors and windows slammed shut, just as they had before when the police were investigating. Parker ran toward the front door and tried to open it, though this effort was in vain.

"Damn it!" he shouted.

Fred, who really didn't like the man, secretly enjoyed his failure. He then walked up proudly, taking out the key, and unlocked the door.

"I guess you kids can come inside for a moment," the caretaker grumbled. When they were all safely inside, sitting on the couch, Parker said to them, "A lot of weird stuff has been happening since Marks died. I've seen this creepy ghost lurking around the house and I don't know what it's up to. I guess I could use your help in finding it."

Fred smiled smugly. "Well, I guess as long as we're here we might as well help you out."

"I found some sort of clue the other day," Parker continued, ignoring Fred completely. "Let me just run upstairs and grab it."

As soon as he was out of earshot, Daphne elbowed Fred in the gut. "What was that about? You don't need to be so mean to him."

"Hey!" Fred shouted. "It's not my fault. I just don't trust the guy. There's something off about him."

Daphne raised an eyebrow. "If he's the ghost they why would he be trying to help us?"

"Well, I, err, I don't know," Fred admitted. "But I still don't trust him."

A scream interrupted their discussion. It was coming from upstairs and it sounded like it had been Parker. The gang ran to the stairs to see that the ghost was waiting at the top for them. It looked as though it had streaks of blood across the mask that hid it's face.

"I warned you all," it said. "Now you have to suffer the same fate as Marks, Stephen and Parker."

The ghost lunged forward, looking as though it were going to grab them. Scooby lept into Shaggy's arms as he sped out the door with Velma close on their heels. Daphne and Fred were right behind them, Fred pulling Daphne along and tyring to get her to run faster. They tried to open the door but it had been locked. Fred fumbled around in his pocket, searching for the key, but he couldn't find it fast enough and the ghost was now right in front of them.

"Run!" Fred commanded. He and Daphne went left while Shaggy, Scooby and Velma ran in the opposite direction.

Daphne and Fred found themselves in an office and quickly hid in the closet that was located next to the desk. Shaggy and Scooby, of course, managed to make their way to the kitchen and they hid with Velma inside the pantry, praying that the phantom wouldn't search there.

Daphne was panting. Normally this small amount of physical activity wouldn't bother her, but now she had this terrible headache to go along with it, making even the simplest tasks seem difficult. She noticed how close she was to Fred. They were crouched in a corner. Fred had also noticed their proximity to each other and he thought his heart might beat right out of his chest.

Meanwhile, Shaggy and Velma found themselves in a very similar position. The rush of adrenaline combined with their closeness to their crush caused each to believe that their heartbeat was so loud that it would lead the ghost right to them. Oddly enough, the spook opened to pantry door to find the three cowering figures. Scooby was the first to regain his ability to move, and he bolted out of there so fast that he actually knocked over the ghost, allowing Velma and Shaggy to have enough tiem to escape safely. The doors were still locked and Fred had the only key, so they were trapped until Fred and Daphne showed up.

Luckily, this happened sooner than they thought, for Fred and Daphne had overheard the commotion and had come out of hiding to see what was happening. They saw their friends waiting anxiously by the door and Fred wasted no time in pulling out the key and allowing them all to escape.

As soon as they were in the Mystery Machine, Shaggy began complaining. "Can't we ever stumble onto an easy mystery?" he whined. "I mean, why do all these creeps have to, like, chase us? Couldn't they just let us get away?"

"At least nothing happened to Daphne this time," Fred said, causing everyone except the red-head to laugh. He had said this in a joking manner although he had been totally serious. In his opinion, these last few days had been _way_ to action-packed and murderous for them, and he was really beginning to worry what the ghost would do if it _did_ end up catching her. He shivered at the thought, remembering the bloody smears across the spook's face after it had captured Parker. _No_, he thought, _I'll never let that happen to her_.

Even as he told this to himself, Fred couldn't help but wonder what if...?

For the rest of the ride he was silent, desperately hoping that this case would be over soon. He loved mysteries, but he didn't like to risk putting everyone - especially Daphne - in the middle of this much danger. The worst part was that they didn't even know who was behind this anymore. Both of their suspects had been captured and killed.

So who was to blame for all of this?


	6. A New Damsel in Distress

Note: I'm so sorry that this isn't a good story! I tried to get some rest but it definitely backfired. So instead, I find myself once again exhausted and typing whatever thoughts pop into my head.

_Chapter 6 A New Damsel in Distress_

The next day, without the knowledge of anyone else, Fred snuck back to the empty mansion. He didn't like the thought of putting any other member of his team in harm's way, so he had decided to come alone and try to solve the mystery. He carefully slipped the key in the lock and entered the house. The floorboards were creaking upstairs and Fred quietly crept up to see who was there. He looked in the room that seemed to be the source of the noise and saw something that made him breath a sigh of relief.

It was Stephen Marks, alive, and tied up. Fred walked over, prepared to untie him, when he was struck abruptly in the back of the head. As soon as he regained conciousness, Fred found himself bound just like Stephen, who was squirming around right next to him.

Standing before them was the specter, holding a sharp, shining knife.

Fred gulped. This was exactly why he didn't want anyone else to be here: this phantom was insane. It was going to kill him.

Meanwhile, Daphne was growing more anxious by the second. This was the same feeling she'd gotten when Fred had been kidnapped at the old lighthouse last month. Daphne paced up and down in her room as she dialed Fred's number on her phone and prayed that he would pick up.

Luckily he did.

"Fred Jones," she shouted, "you'd better tell me where you are right now!"

There was no answer. Instead, there was the sound of cloth being moved around and Daphne assumed that Fred had accidentally answered the phone while it was still in his pocket. Obviously he wasn't aware that she was listening in, but she decided to keep eavesdropping and make sure that everything was okay with him.

"What are you going to do to me?" Fred asked to someone else in the room. This mystery person obviously frightened him.

"Exactly what I'd said I'd do to anyone who continued to trespass," the other person answered. Daphne recognized the voice immediately as that of the phantom that had been haunting Marks' house.

She hung up the phone, having heard enough, and ran to her car, freaking out slightly. She called Velma.

"Hey, Daphne, what's up?" Velma asked.

"Fred's in trouble," she blurted out, sounding hysterical. "Velma, we have to go help him. He went down to Marks' house by himself and got caught by the ghost. It's going to kill him. We have to go there now! We have to save him."

"Daph, take a deep breath." Daphne followed these instructions. "Okay, now I'll go grab Shaggy and Scooby and we'll meet you over there. Don't worry, we'll save Fred."

Daphne hung up and choked on a sob. She fought against the tears that were threatening to spill out, but it was pointless. In mere minutes, she was crying so hard that it was almost impossible to see the road in front of her. _Fred, you stupid idiot_, she thought. _Why'd you have to go endangering yourself like that?_ Almost immediately she knew the answer: it was to protect the rest of them.

"Fred, why do you have to be so perfect?" she asked bitterly as though he could hear her. "If that phantom doesn't kill you before we get there, I will. How could you make me go through this?"

She reached down and held the charm hanging from her necklace, recalling what he had said when he gave it to her.

_"...I just thought that this necklace was kind of a reminder that I'll always be here for you, whenever you need me. So next time you get kidnapped by a ghost, just look down at that charm and know I'm doing everything I can to get you back."_

Daphne sighed and then laughed humorlessly. "Now I guess it's my turn to save the damsel in distress."


	7. The Rescue and Reveal

So I kind of felt obligated to say how **_awesome_** the people that review are! SpongeAddict, Hollie, Russ: you guys are totally amazing for reviewing even when this hasn't been the best story. I really appreciate it! Well, now that I've said that I guess I'll let you read the ending.

_Chapter 7 The Rescue and Reveal_

As Daphne pulled up to the old house, she noticed that Velma had already arrived, parking right next to the Mystery Machine.

"Do you have any idea where in the house Fred is?" Velma asked urgently.

"No," Daphne replied, feeling like a complete idiot. She shouldn't have hung up the phone so soon. Maybe he would've said something useful.

"It's fine, Daph," Shaggy said kindly. He could tell how upset she was.

"Okay, here's what we need to do," Velma instructed. "Daphne and Scooby, you guys search upstairs. Shaggy and I will look downstairs. One pair of us is bound to find Fred."

Everyone agreed and rushed up to the door, only to find that it was locked. They all groaned, remembering that Fred had the only key. Daphne suddenly remembered that she had a bobby-pin in her hair and pulled it out, using it to pick the lock. After about a minute, the door swung open, inviting the four guests in. They quickly went in their designated directions. Daphne and Scooby were walking silently toward what appeared to be a bedroom. Inside, faint voices could be heard.

"So you did all of that for Marks' money?" Fred was saying. It seemed as though he had gotten the villain to explain his evil plan in the classic monologue that always led to the downfall of the crook in movies.

"Yes," the phantom hissed. "Now, enough talk. Any last words?"

At that point, Daphne opened the door and Scooby tackled to ghost, causing the knife to be knocked out of it's hand, though it managed to slice Fred's arm first. He yelped in pain as Daphne ran over to him, quickly loosening the knots that prevented him from moving.

"Freddy, are you okay?" she asked, flooded with so many emotions at one time that she felt as though she would faint. She noticed that his arm was bleeding and she covered the wound with her hand, trying to keep pressure on it.

"Yeah," he said, smiling wider than she'd ever seen him smile before.

Seeing his expression, Daphne couldn't help but grin a little herself. "Why are you so happy?" she asked.

"You saved me," he said simply, causing Daphne to blush slightly as she untied the last knot. She then went to work on untying Stephen, who had passed out. Fred helped her, only using one hand for the other was on the small of her back, never moving from that spot until the prisoner had been released.

The rope that had been used to bind Fred and Stephen was now being used to incarcerate their captor. Velma and Shaggy were immediately filled in on all the details and soon the whole part was outside on the lawn, surrounded by local law enforcement. Luckily Detective O'Connor wasn't present as the teens explained what had happened to them.

Shaggy was still shaking with fear, as was Scooby, even though the ghost had never directly threatened them. Velma kept a comforting hand on each of their shoulders, happy that she had these two cowards on her team. Next to them, Fred was clutching his injured arm while he held Daphne in the other. He didn't care that this would make things awkward later. He had almost been killed and she had saved him. All he wanted to do know was be with her for as long as possible, and she definitely didn't have a problem with that.

"So who is this?" Officer McGee asked the gang, pointing to the tied up phantom.

"None other than," Fred began, removing the ghost's mask.

Everyone gasped. "Jeff Parker," they all finished in unison.

"Mr. Parker has some nasty debts with some nasty people," Fred explained. "He needed Marks' money to pay them off. Unfortunately, he got a little too greedy and wanted more money than he was being paid. Marks then told him about the change in the will and Parker thought he had a solution to his problem."

"He poisoned Mr. Marks' doughnut, killing him instantly," Velma added. "I also suspect that he was the cause for the medical examiner never arriving at the scene. Later, when we found the poisoned food, he shut everybody out of the house and used speakers to amplify his voice while he stole the body."

"But how did he manage to do all of that?" someone wondered.

"Simple electronics," Velma explained, taking something from Parker's costume. It was what looked like a small remote control. She pressed a button, causing all the doors and windows to shut. "See?"

"What happened to Marks' body?" McGee asked.

"I'm assuming he buried it out in the backyard shortly after all the officers left," Fred answered. "When we first saw him there was fresh dirt on his shoes and he was carrying a shovel. Then Velma mentioned the area out back that looked as though it had been dug up recently."

An officer shook his head. "He murdered his best friend for money."

"Yeah," spat Parker. "And I would've gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling kids and that stupid mutt."

The gang smiled. They walked toward the porch, unsure of what to say or do.

Fred was the first to speak up. "Sorry," he muttered, his head hung low.

Daphne lifted his chin so he met her eyes. "It's okay," she said sweetly. Then, the most unexpected thing happened. Her hand swung hard and hit him across the face.

"Ow!" he shouted, touching the spot where she had slapped him.

"If you ever do that again, some deranged killer won't be the only thing that's out to get you," she said threateningly, looking like she was going to cry. Daphne stomped off without another word, leaving Fred to wonder what the hell just happened, for she had been so happy to see him before.

He looked at Velma, confused and hoping she could explain. "Daphne was really worried about you," she said. "She was kind of freaking out. Go talk to her," Velma commanded.

Fred immediately ran over to Daphne and, ignoring her protests, smothered her in an affectionate hug. She wrapped her arms around him, enjoying the feel of having him there with her.

"Never do that to me again," she said, this time more of a request rather than a threat.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Fred responded, smiling and gazing into her clear blue eyes.

Later that day, Fred was reflecting on all that had happened. He had been seriously considering quitting this business, for things were growing more and more dangerous. He had gotten stitches for the cut on his arm, but the worst thing about that day hadn't been the injury. It was the way Daphne was so worried. He didn't like to see her like that.

"Maybe it'd be better if we just stop this whole thing all toghether," he said to himself.

But then thoughts of his teammates ran through his head: Velma shouting, "Jinkies!" whenever she found a clue; Shaggy and Scooby eating everything in sight and running at the first sign of trouble; and Daphne laughing at one of his jokes, her eyes twinkling, her smile enough to brighten his entire day. The five members of Mystery, Inc. would've never become the best friends that they were had it not been for a mystery.

Fred sighed. "I guess solving mysteries isn't all bad," he muttered thoughtfully.


End file.
